Manchester City warn they could face a three-figure points deduction when the Premier League hearing begins
A hearing into the 115-charge Premier League match against Manchester City begins next week, giving the champions an ominous warning.
The long awaited Hearing on Financial Fair Play will take place in what is considered a “sealed room,” sparking much speculation due to the few details available.
One expert who has some insight is football finance writer Kieran Maguire, who was able to compare the Premier League cases with Everton and Leicester.
In both cases, the league brought charges against the teams, with Leicester successful in their appeal but Everton not, leading to a total of 12 points deducted in two separate cases against the Merseyside club.
Explaining what kind of punishment City could receive, Maguire told talkSPORT: “It can't really be a financial punishment because that would make everyone think it was all a waste of time.
“So if you look at the hearing for both Everton and Nottingham Forest, the committees for both said 'this was a minor breach of the rules'. Now, if the allegations against Manchester City It has been proven that a serious breach of the rules has certainly occurred, namely that the club has misrepresented the money coming into the club.
“The club has also been accused of disguising payments to players and directors, effectively being paid by third parties overseas, being paid by Abu Dhabi for services provided by members of staff and that is also completely against the rules, one might think, although it could be that it is within the rules of the Premier League.
“Therefore, we would have to consider a very significant points deduction. If all 115 charges are proven, then you would have to imagine the points deduction would be between 60 and 100 points, on the basis that they would want the club to have suffered enough to exit the division.”
A three-figure fine would relegate City, but Maguire still believes it will be a long time before we have a definitive answer as to what will happen if they are found guilty.
“While the hearing will be over in eight weeks, if you have all that evidence to present to the commission, it will probably take three to four months,” he explained.
“They have to decide on all 115 separate charges to see whether or not they believe Manchester City are guilty. If they are guilty of all of them, then the decision must be so severe that any club that is thinking of going down that route again will realise that it would be very damaging to the future of that club.”
Despite all the risk, City are still very confident and the manager… Pep Guardiola telling the media that he is “looking forward to the decision.”
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Maguire explained why the club are so hopeful: “They are very confident, they will say firstly the allegations that they did not co-operate with the Premier League, why should they? They believe the Premier League's case is based on hacked emails that have been obtained criminally, then you have to say you have to look at the context of those emails and there are people who could potentially say the content has been misinterpreted.
“Can they successfully defend themselves? If that were the case, they would not have hired the lawyers they did.”
However, Maguire is not so sure he will appeal if they fail to win the case.
“I think it could be quite a difficult scenario to appeal,” he said. “The Premier League have tried to arrange it in such a way that I don’t think Manchester City can go to CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), so it would have to be because of something that happened during the course of the committee hearing that was not in accordance with due process.”
The trial is expected to last 10 weeks and the verdict is likely to be known in early 2025.
The Premier League has also accused Manchester City of failing to cooperate with the investigation.
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City have always denied the allegations, saying they are “completely false”.
Asked about the start of the trial, manager Pep Guardiola said: “It starts soon and I hope it ends soon,” Guardiola said of the hearing. “An independent panel will decide and I look forward to the decision.”
“I'm glad it's starting on Monday. I know there will be more rumours, new experts on the sentences. We'll see. I know what people expect, what they hope for, I know, I've read it for many, many years.
“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. So we'll see.”
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